Asset management for Virginia highways and roads

Abstract

The maintenance of pavements, structures and bridges, and other transportation assets has become a challenge for the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). These challenges include effective allocation of fmancial resources, communication improvement between upper and lower level maintenance entities in the department, ability to perform cross-asset selection, and incorporation of risk analysis in the decision making process. The Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems and the project team have developed a risk assessment and management framework to address these problems. This new methodology, which uses condition (lifetime remaking) and cost as indexes of performance, would allow VDOT to target short-term and long-term goals, and to coordinate for maintenance activities. Indeed, the framework developed will help the department maintain their transportation assets in a more efficient manner and prevent unforeseen failures.

Development of maintenance decision model for flexible pavements

“…The performance prediction is a critical requirement for the identification of future pavement preservation needs. Pavement performance depends on many local factors and is not easily transferable from location (agency) to another; therefore, identifying the future maintenance needs is considered a key challenge in the management cycle (Beauvais et al 2003, Hajek et al 2004, Cuelho et al 2006, VDOT 2006.…”